Strobel Gary Allan
Department of Plant Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA,
Biotechnol Lett. 2015 May;37(5):973-82. doi: 10.1007/s10529-015-1773-9. Epub 2015 Feb 4.
The world has a continuing demand and utility for liquid fuels to power its societies. The utilization of crude oil based fuels is leading to a dramatic increase in the CO2 content of the atmosphere which is being related to a dangerously warming earth. Having liquid fuels that are derived from biological sources is one solution to this growing problem since the carbon being utilized is only from recycled sources. Presently, the microbes, having the greatest impact on the world's economies, producing liquid fuel are various yeasts producing ethanol. Other microbial sources need to be sought since ethanol is not the most desirable fuel and yeasts require simple sugars to carry out the fermentation processes. Recently, several endophytic fungi have been described that make hydrocarbons with fuel potential (Mycodiesel). Among others the compounds found in the volatile phases of these cultures include alkanes, branched alkanes, cyclohexanes, cyclopentanes, and alkyl alcohols/ketones, benzenes and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Most importantly, generally these organisms make hydrocarbons while utilizing complex carbohydrates found in all plant-based agricultural wastes. Also discussed in this review is a rationale for finding hydrocarbon producing endophytes as well as examples of other promising hydrocarbon producers-Nodulisporium spp. which make 1,8-cineole and families of other hydrocarbons. Extremely favorable results of engine and fuel testing experiments recently completed on cineole and other products of Nodulisporium sp. are also presented. Finally, there is a brief discussion on the main limiting steps in the domestication of these fungi.
世界对液体燃料有着持续的需求，以驱动其社会运转。基于原油的燃料的使用正导致大气中二氧化碳含量急剧增加，这与地球危险的变暖现象相关。拥有源自生物源的液体燃料是解决这一日益严重问题的一种方法，因为所利用的碳仅来自循环源。目前，对世界经济影响最大的生产液体燃料的微生物是各种生产乙醇的酵母。由于乙醇并非最理想的燃料，且酵母需要单糖来进行发酵过程，因此需要寻找其他微生物来源。最近，已描述了几种具有产生具有燃料潜力的碳氢化合物（霉菌柴油）能力的内生真菌。在这些培养物的挥发性相中发现的化合物包括烷烃、支链烷烃、环己烷、环戊烷以及烷基醇/酮、苯和多环芳烃。最重要的是，一般来说这些生物体在利用所有植物基农业废弃物中发现的复杂碳水化合物时会产生碳氢化合物。本综述还讨论了寻找产生碳氢化合物的内生真菌的基本原理，以及其他有前景的碳氢化合物生产者的例子——产生1,8-桉叶素和其他碳氢化合物家族的结节孢属物种。最近完成的关于桉叶素和结节孢属物种其他产物的发动机和燃料测试实验的极其有利的结果也在文中呈现。最后，简要讨论了这些真菌驯化过程中的主要限制步骤。
